Beauty has always been in the eye of the 911's beholder

On one hand, the flagship Porsche is seen as the unimaginative choice. The obvious option. A selection made by those who only want the badge kudos to keep up with the Joneses. Almost a passionless purchase.

What you end up doing is appreciating the subtleties the steadfast design team in Stuttgart has begrudgingly allowed to slip through the net.

At a quickfire test in sunny Valencia this month, a fortunate few of us were presented with keys to the eighth-generation Carrera S and Carrera 4S models – the first two variants of the 992 available from launch in the UK from March.

Finally, a quad of digital driver's instruments complete the refurb of the cabin.

These are as hi-tech as we've seen on the market yet, offering a range of functionality that gives you the option of anything from thermal imagining to be presented alongside a traditional tachometer.

The only downfall is, despite my efforts to manipulate the driving position to overcome it, sections of the flanking screens are hidden behind the leather-wrapped wheel. And there's no head-up display to offer an unmolested view of the instructions.

Fortunately, the driving position is exceptional. Somehow, Porsche has managed to make slimmer and lighter chairs – still ratcheted into the perfect spot in the chassis - that bit more cossetting.

It helps that the revised eight-speed auto box is as sharp as a haystack full of needles, shifts seamlessly and massages your driving ego by selecting the ideal gear at all times to save your average-driver blushes.

The powertrain is so refined that it somehow manages to make motorway journeys feel almost painless – no mean feat for a near-£100,000 sports car.

A compliant ride – even on the enormous alloy rims, thanks to new adaptive dampers – and barely a rustle of wind buffeting or tyre roar means the longest slogs can be completed without a strain on your vertebrae or vocal chords.

Even with electronic power steering – which are mechanically and objectively void of feel – the 911 gives you the confidence that it has hooked up to a turn with incredible precision.

Porsche's decision to make the steering rack quicker than before (it now turns from lock-to-lock in 2.5 rotations) gives the car an increased sense of agility.

Despite being entirely synthetic, this quicker response inspires the conviction to corner faster and harder than before, especially with the improved traction from the two additionally driven wheels in the 4S.

It's still beautifully balanced, too, pivoting through turns with the grace of an Olympic figure skater.

The chassis is so finely tuned that any degree of adjustment to the steering angle, throttle or brake application failed to unsettle the car, as I primitively attempted to hustle it through the snaking mountain roads on the east coast of Spain.

The big question is: if you have the money has the 992 done enough to warrant walking through the glass doors of a Porsche dealership to slap down the £93,000 asking price, instead of saving some dough by snapping up a 991 on the used market?

While I won't try to convince you with aesthetics, the driving alone is a credible excuse to go face-to-face with a pristinely-dressed salesman.

Is it perfect? I would argue it's as close to perfection as the market has achieved yet – and explains why so few brands bother to release a rival to one of the most well established four-wheeled entities.

Maybe Porsche has missed a trick by not offering a manual gearbox at launch, though you shouldn't have to wait too long if this is an ice breaker.

The fact of the matter is, if you already appreciate 911s then you'll unquestionably appreciate the lengths taken to mechanically dial the 992 into a sub-£100,000 superlative.

The power delivery achieves a new level of savage acceleration but with smooth delivery; the cabin feels familiar though entirely upgraded; and the mechanical and scientific enhancements to overcome cornering physics is – yet again – unfathomable. All of this from a car with two rear seats and ample luggage space.

And there's still the models like the GTS, GT3 and – deep intake of breath – GT2 possibly set to come.